Action of 2 May 1707

This article is about the 1707 battle. For other battles off Beachy Head, see Battle of Beachy Head.
Action of 2 May 1707
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession

Action of 2 May 1707. National Maritime Museum
Date2–3 May 1707
Location
off Beachy Head
50°44′20.29″N 0°14′31.58″E / 50.7389694°N 0.2421056°E / 50.7389694; 0.2421056
Result French victory
Belligerents
 France  Great Britain[1]
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of France Claude de Forbin Kingdom of Great Britain Baron Wylde
Strength
7 Ships of the line
6 Privateers		 3 Ships of the line
52 Merchantmen
Casualties and losses
Light 2 Ships of the line captured[2]
21 merchantmen captured[3]

The action of 2 May 1707, also known as Beachy Head, was a naval battle of the War of the Spanish Succession in which a French squadron under Claude de Forbin intercepted a large British convoy escorted by three ships of the line, under Commodore Baron Wylde. The action began when three French ships, the Grifon, Blackoal and Dauphine, grappled HMS Hampton Court, killing her captain, George Clements, and taking her. Claude Forbin's 60-gun Mars next attacked HMS Grafton and, when joined by the French ships Blackoal and Fidèle, killed the Captain Edward Acton, and took her too.[4] The convoy was scattered and the last British escort, HMS Royal Oak, badly hit and with 12 feet of water in her wells, managed to escape by running ashore near Dungeness, from where she was carried the next day into the Downs.[5]

The French took 21 merchant ships, besides the two 70-gun ships of the line, and carried them all into Dunkirk.[6]

  1. ^ This battle occurred one or two days after the Acts of Union of 1707.
  2. ^ Allen p.101
  3. ^ Allen p.101
  4. ^ Haws/Hurst p.347
  5. ^ Haws/Hurst p.347
  6. ^ Allen p.101